ACT 7 Dungeon Keeper

Chwajijijijijik!

A big underground enclosed room was flooded with darkness. Violent sparks suddenly spread from the ceiling of the closed room. The sparks jumped and concentrated on the satellite antenna installed in the room. A deep flash spread across the area and changed into hundreds of people at the same time.

“They’ve arrived!”

Several beasts and coalition members gathered around the antenna shouted.

“They’ve come. The elite of Nagaran’s allied forces!”

Hundreds of soldiers appeared among the light! That’s right. They were the selected elite soldiers of Nagaran’s allied forces. They arrived at the underground room on the 60th floor where the racc.o.o.ns had installed the movement receiver. Their aim was to protect Nagaran…….

“Kuaaaaack! F-fire!”

“Ugh! D-disgusting…… B-bag……uweeeeeek!”

The users ran back and forth and screamed. Some users with their a.s.ses on fire rolled along the ground while others with their heads on fire slammed into the wall and shrieked. More than half were vomiting while others were stretched on the ground like they were dying. Ark was also on the ground and vomiting.

“D-dammit….. What on earth…..this is?”

He had travelled around New World using the Letter Movement. However, the quantum movement seemed many times more horrible. While the Letter Movement felt like he was being shaken in a jar, the quantum movement felt like he had been grinded in a blended. It really was a horrible feeling. In fact, 70~80% of the users’ health was lost thanks to the quantum movement. If they had moved any further then all of the soldiers would probably by dead. Ark realized once again to not trust in Wormer’s inventions.

“I already told you. I made it quickly and there was a slight problem with the stability. The quantum conversion rate isn’t 100% so not all the obstacles in the ground could be avoided. If I had the quantum machine from my base then the conversion rate would’ve been 100%. Well, even so…….”

That’s right. The quantum machine was made in a rush so it couldn’t convert the users 100%. According to Wormer, the conversion rate was around 70~80%. Therefore while Ark’s group had been moving through the ground, they had been hit by the dirt, gravel and rocks. That was why some of them caught on fire or had bruises over their whole bodies. However, surprisingly Wormer was fine.

“Who would be harmed from small shakes like that? Young people these days have weak minds.”

Wormer twirled his beard and murmured. He was the one who tested his inventions so he wouldn’t even blink an eye if he was turned into a monster. He really was an absurd human being.

‘Anyway, at least we’ve all arrived alive.’

Ark barely recovered his spirit as he looked around. After Alan had occupied Silvana, he had order the coalition members in the hidden dungeon to hide on the 60th floor. There were 1,800 people but 1,500 consisted of the Meow, Wolrang, racc.o.o.ns and the Eastern Nation. The losses of these NPCs would be catastrophic to Dark Eden. As Ark directed, the members of Dark Eden had enclosed themselves inside a room on the 60th floor. That room was the place where Ark moved with his selected users. While Ark braced himself, the coalition members ran up.

“You’re here!”

Ssak ssak ssak, ssak ssak ssak ssak!

But Radun was the first one to greet him as he moved around Ark’s waist.

“Well done Radun. The current status?”

Ark stroked Radun’s head as he asked. Then Boramae who was in charge of the group replied.

“The demons are currently on the 56th floor.”

“That’s one day after they’ve entered the 51st floor…… It is pretty fast.”

But it was natural for Alan to move quickly. When Ark had first entered the Abyss, it had taken him one day to go down one floor. It was because the degree of difficulty in the Abyss was different from the 50 floors before it. However, that was when it was full of elite monsters. Thanks to Dark Eden hunting, it was difficult to see any monsters in the Abyss at the moment. While the Abyss was a dangerous area with various traps, it wasn’t enough to slow down Alan’s group. Boramae continued talking.

“The movements of the demons suddenly slowed down on the 55th floor. I’ve been monitoring them since they’ve entered the Abyss and they are still looking for the stairs down from the 55th floor.”

‘Huhuhu, it is like that.’

A satisfied smile appeared on Ark’s face after hearing Boramae’s words. In fact, Ark had two aims when he used Racard. One of it was to use Racard to distract Alan’s group so Radun could be safe. And the other reason was to slow down the movement of Alan’s group. After Alan captured Racard, he probably got his hands on Wormer’s design that Ark handed to Racard. But this design wasn’t for the receiving but the transmission device.

‘There are no monsters in the Abyss. Of course, that is because of Dark Eden’s NPC unit but Alan doesn’t know that. If he knew then he would kill the NPC unit in order to weaken Dark Eden’s power.’

And Ark had sent Racard into the secret dungeon without telling him the strategy. He was informed that there were 3,000~4,000 troops inside the Abyss. And when Racard entered the Abyss, Ark would use the remote communication to explain more.

‘And Alan will get that information.’

Ark didn’t expect that Racard would be able to keep his mouth shut when being tortured. If Racard was caught then there was no doubt that Alan would obtain the information. Then what would Alan thing? Racard was caught and there was no way for him to run away. Then Alan couldn’t ignore the possibility that a group was hiding somewhere to ambush him. So Alan was looking through every corner of every floor before advancing to check for any ambushes. Therefore Ark had used Racard to distract and slow down Alan. It was achieving two purposes at once.

‘Alan will never imagine that I am on the 60th floor.’

“Now what do we do?”

Boramae looked at the collapsed special attack unit with a sceptical expression. It was reasonable. There were only 500 people in the special attack unit. When combined, it was only 2,300 people. On the other hand, Alan led 10,000 demons and users from the Avenger guild. They had to somehow stop Alan until the allied forces captured Silvana and joined them. Furthermore, the special attack unit was in this state as soon as they arrived. But Ark’s face was full of confidence.

“Our aim isn’t to kill Alan’s group but to stop them! We have to buy time until the allied forces arrive.”

“But won’t that be difficult?”

“No, not at all.”

Ark said with a smirk.

“Now, now! Is it show time? Quickly bring me a map of the dungeon! It is the reason I came along. Good. I’ll make that fellow realize his mistake in turning my inventions into sc.r.a.p iron. Oh, what? Didn’t I say to bring it quickly? I said, a map! And is there anyone who knows how to use a hammer? Bring them all to me!”

Wormer waved his arms and shouted.

“What is with that noisy pig?”

Ark smiled at Boramae’s question and replied.

“My secret weapon to thwart Alan.”

—————————————————————————————————————-

“Alan-nim, it appeared again!”

A member of the Avenger guild who was searching the area exclaimed. The Avenger member pointed to the underground valley where there was a signpost.